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"Conservation is not merely an act of stewardship that privileges the past over the present; it is a creative destruction of alternative futures." (Erica Avrami) 1
“The passion for destruction is a creative passion too!”(Mikhail Bakunin) 2
As conservators we have begun to formulate approaches to the ‘conservation’ of works of art that auto-destruct, however, the question remains whether we have come to grips with the destructive potential of conservation itself. Working as a conservator there is no avoiding the simple fact that no matter how well cared for an object may be, eventually it will degrade to the point of destruction. This simple fact establishes the classical conservation discourse of an epic struggle to prevent the inevitable, and the utopic idea of a system that will one day arrest decay. Contemporary conservation has developed a more complex and nuanced relationship with the concept of destruction than simply its prevention. Perhaps most explicitly in the debates surrounding the principle of reversibility [7], in which the term ‘change’ developed as a synonym for destruction. The resulting acceptance that all conservation treatments cause change to the material elements of objects has led conservators to accept that reversibility is at best a “fuzzy concept” [8]. This was expanded to incorporate metaphysical elements of objects too. It is slowly being accepted that conservation treatments have the potential to destroy not only physical but metaphysical elements and associations of objects, in fact such realizations lead directly to questions of whether retaining material culture in collections could itself be considered emotionally and culturally destructive. Most simply any object undergoing conservation could perhaps be considered to have been permanently destroyed in its essence as it existed prior to the conservation intervention. Alternatively, we could view the process as similar to have undergoing a life-changing metamorphosis. Either way, we can view the resulting object as being new and uniquely different. In theorizing the conservation process as a creation of new objects conservation praxis can potentially align itself with the growing trend in museology towards embracing individual and collective agency, "an activist museum practice, intended to construct and elicit support amongst audiences (and other constituencies) for alternative, progressive, ways of thinking" [9]. If the discourse in destruction so far has focused on negative connotations it is in the act of conservation that we can begin to locate the positive potential of destruction. If the conservation process facilitates future uses of objects, in taking a particular course of action the potential for one set of uses are elevated, as conversely another are destroyed. This potential is shaped not only by the physical act of intervention, but also by the process itself. Moreover, it is increasingly clear that as conservators we do not simply act upon the physical manifestations of material culture, but our actions also play out within surrounding metaphysical landscapes as well. Contemporary conservators therefore make treatment decisions based on the views of an expanded range of experts, it is possible that the growing participatory nature of museums will expand the range of voices further, following the trend towards the melding of audience and authoritative voice, which although in its infancy has already proven to be both a popular and worthwhile approach [10]. It is clear that conservation choices are subjective; albeit based on particular scientific, artistic, and craft knowledge, as well as experience and past precedent. It is in this understanding of the subjective nature of our profession that we can begin to take ownership of our collective and individual agency, and the necessity for far greater exploration of both the positive and negative implications of such destructive power; perhaps in so doing we can be inspired by, and bring new meaning to, the oft-mis/quoted scripture "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" [11]. Notes [1] E. Avrami, “Heritage, Values, and Sustainability”, in A. Richmond and A. Bracker (eds), Conservation: Principles, Dilemmas, and Uncomfortable Truths, Butterworth-Heinemann, London, 2010, pp. 183 [2] M. Bakunin, “The Reaction in Germany: From the Notebooks of a Frenchman”, originally signed as “Jules Elysard”, in S. Dolgoff (ed. and tr.), Bakunin on Anarchy, Black Rose Books, 1996 [3] H. Samuel, "Woman attacks Mona Lisa", The Telegraph, 11 August 2009, URL [4] M. Landy, Breakdown, URL [5] N. Noranjo-Morse, Always Becoming, URL (blog), URL (site) [6] J. D. Powell, Preserving the unpreservable: A study of destruction art in the contemporary museum, MA Museum Studies Thesis, University of Leicester, 2007, pp. 59, URL [7] A. Oddy and S. Carroll (eds), "Reversibility - Does it Exist?", British Museum Occasional Paper 135, British Museum, London, 1999
[9] R. Sandell and J. Dodd, “Activist Practice”, in R. Sandell, J. Dodd and R. Garland-Thomson (eds), Re-presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum, Routledge, London, 2010, pp. 3
[10] N. Simon, The Participatory Museum, Museum 2.0, Santa Cruz, 2010 [11] ‘The Bhagavad Gita’, Verse 32, Chapter 11, URL, famously quoted by J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project, in reference to the Trinity Test of the first atomic bomb
About the author
Daniel Cull
Assistant Conservator
The Musical Instrument Museum
Website: http://dancull.wordpress.com
Contact: daniel.cull@themim.org
Daniel Cull is a Conservator, Wikipedian, Social Networker, and Blogger from the West Country of the British Isles. Trained at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, where he received a BSc in Archaeology, MA in Principles of conservation, and an MSc in Conservation for Archaeology and Museums. He was later awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the National Museum of the American Indian/Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. He currently works as an ethnographic musical instrument conservator at the Musical Instrument Museum,in Arizona.
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